Babysitters Club

Binging the new  Netflix Babysitter's Club felt to me like visiting childhood friends. I was obsessed with Ann M Martin's series of books in my youth and when I would spend hours in the my BDalton bookstore one of the things I would always purchase would be the latest installment of Babysitters Club Books

The premise is that a group of junior high girls get together to formulate a babysitting club where parents could call and get not just one, but a group of babysitters that may be available. (This was designed before the internet) It chronicled their adventures with babysitting, school, boys, family life and each other.  The idea was pitched after another book about babysitting by scholastic books enjoyed market success. Ann M Martin was approached to write the books which debuted in 1986....which was the beginning of a long, successful series of books that were my very favorite books in my youth.

Of course as a young child I did not realize that a group of young girls with an entrepreneurial  spirit was very progressive for it's time. I know that I am not the only one who has explored this. Gabrielle Moss states in her book Paperback Crush acknowledges that the stories "shaped how a generation of girls conceived of our careers and ourselves. In an era of ambition free, endlessly wealthy teen-aged protagonists, the Babysitters weren't just girls waiting for neighbors to dial them up for a gig: they actively organized and sought out opportunities." I didn't realize what an impact this had on the way I perceived my own opportunities at that point in time.

I was just enamored with a series of books about strong girls who faced the same kind of dilemmas that I encountered. Many girls tried to develop their own babysitters club while reading the books. My own attempt however at formulating my own club however would be a more activist approach as I tried to envision a save the earth club. But what was revolutionary for me was having interesting books with relatable dilemmas. Up till that point in time I found myself mostly immersed in fantasy worlds like Oz and Narnia or the more historical tales of Laura Ingallas Wilder. It was what opened my eyes to literature that could be about real life but still enjoyable. I would enjoy reading other series of books that were popular for my generation--Sleepover Friends, Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High and Girl Talk...however Babysitters Club would be the series that I was most obsessed with and would read by favorite books in the series quite frequently. 

The new Netflix series definitely kept the spirit of the books that I remembered alive. There are some great nods to the series  that may be missed by someone who may have never read the books, such the introductions to the episodes that are in the character's handwriting.  In the books they had a babysitting journal that they shared and it was always done in handwriting that was distinctive to the character. I was excited that it covered two of my three favorite books in the book series--Boy Crazy Stacy (where Stacy gets distracted from babysitting by a hunky life guard)  and Kristy's Big Day (which is about the events around Kristy's mom's wedding). But one of my huge disappointments was that it didn't include The Ghost At Dawn's House (where Dawn suspects that her house may be haunted).  (As I am obsessed with horror as an adult that shouldn't be a huge surprise that was one of my favorites as a child) While there were things that were cut out of the books the decisions that were made kept the spirit of the stories alive in the amount of time allowed for a 30 minute Netflix show while keeping the flow of the series....although I do wish we did get to see the kind of babysitting mayhem occurred in Kristy's Big Day when the babysitters helped take care of Kristy's younger extended family members.

It was also a huge delight how the show was modernized. One of the iconic features of The Babysitters Club was a cord phone attached to a landline. Claudia (the character whose room that the club met in) said that she found the phone on ebay. Stacy, the urban character from New York, introduced some social media marketing strategies to the club. A character's secrets is discovered on YouTube. The show kept its iconic features while staying modern.

It wasn't just the technology that was delight--it was also the use of more modern social sentiments that tied in naturally to the show. More explicit talks about being a minority, standing up for transgender people, feminism sand awareness of socioeconomic stratification all tied into the plot lines in a way that was organic to the plot.

It seemed like a great way to make The Babysitters Club relevant for a new generation while still staying true to the plots that women of my generation grew up reading. I am not opposed to reading books or watching shows geared towards younger audiences but as a child-free woman who is not an educator I do not go out of my way to seek them out. My gravitational pull was nostalgia. However while some childhood favorites can seem cheesy or problematic to me as an adult this felt like it truly stood the test of time for me. I binged the while series within 2 days!  I know I am not the only one eager to see which books they choose to adapt for season 2! In the meantime I just might need to reread a few of my favorite books to fill the meantime. Rereading childhood favorites is a way of finding some comfort by returning to stories that I've always loved in these crazy times that we live in!